


Tell You When I've Found You

by mercurys_loverboy (FandomStar)



Series: Freddie and Arthel ~ "Canon" [2]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: 1970s, Acceptance, Coming Out, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Love, M/M, Protective Freddie Mercury, Rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 21:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18859486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomStar/pseuds/mercurys_loverboy
Summary: A year or so after they met, Arthel gets caught in a storm on his way to see Freddie. Naturally, confessions are made and something new is begun.





	Tell You When I've Found You

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in May 1977, when Freddie was living in his Kensington flat.  
> You don't need to have read Find Me Somebody To Love before reading this, but it helps you to see where Freddie and Arthel's relationship came to be.  
> I also feel obliged to remind you that this is purely self-indulgent.  
> I hope you enjoy this!

**Kensington, London, 1977**

Arthel smiled in relief when Freddie opened the door.

"Hi, Fred," he half-heartedly greeted, flicking back his rain-drenched hair. "It's a bit wet out here!"

"Darling, you're soaked!" Freddie exclaimed, pulling Arthel inside by the hand before gathering him in his arms. "Come inside, let's get you warm and dry."

"Thanks," Arthel said, as Freddie shepherded him up the stairs to his flat. "I'm sorry about this. I thought I'd drop by to see you on my way home from work. If I'd known it was going to rain like this, I wouldn't have bothered."

Smiling, Freddie rubbed Arthel's shoulder.

"Don't apologise, my dear, you're here now, and it's lovely to see your face." he softly told Arthel, placing a hand on Arthel's cheek fondly, before going into his bathroom for a moment.

He emerged with a big, fluffy towel, which he draped around Arthel's drenched body. Wrapping an arm around him, Freddie gently guided his friend to a spare bedroom.

"Now, you stay here, whilst I find you some dry clothes, okay?" 

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Arthel nodded, and Freddie dropped a kiss to his head that made his heart flutter, before leaving the room. Arthel shivered a little, and pulled the towel tighter around himself. When Freddie returned with a pile of fresh clothes, Arthel smiled.

"Thank you." Arthel said, as Freddie placed the clothes on the bed next to him. 

"It's no problem, darling." Freddie assured him with a smile.

Neither of them moved, their eyes locked onto each other.

"Would you mind waiting outside while I change?" Arthel eventually asked.

"Oh. Oh, of course." Freddie replied, hesitating before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

The first thing Arthel did when he was alone was peel his shirt off. He groaned when he found that the cloth underneath, around his chest, was also soaked through. After reluctantly unravelling it, he dried himself as best he could, refusing to look down at himself. He buttoned up the shirt he'd been given (which was likely taken from Brian, judging by the size). Once he'd jumped into the slightly too tight jeans, Arthel opened the door and found Freddie leaning against a wall outside.

"Marvellous," Freddie said, smiling. "I have tea in the other room, if you want some."

"I'd like that." Arthel agreed, returning Freddie's smile.

Freddie offered Arthel and arm, and Arthel linked his own through it as they walked through the hallway.

* * *

Freddie poured tea from a teapot into two quaint little teacups and carefully passed one to Arthel.

"What's your opinion on love?" he asked, out of the blue, before noticing Arthel's slightly startled expression and shrugging and smiling nonchalantly. "It's a conversation starter."

Breathlessly, Arthel laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so." he agreed, leaning back, trying to seem casual.

"So, darling? Thoughts on love?" Freddie asked again, also leaning against the sofa with a charming smile.

Arthel smiled to himself.

"I don't fall in love very often," he told Freddie. "But when I do, I fall deep, and I fall hard."

When he turned to gaze at the man next to him, Arthel was reminded of just how deeply he'd fallen this time, seeing everything he'd learned to love about Freddie - his quietness, his kindness, his compassionate nature, his genuinely happy smiles, the way he fiddled with things when he was feeling shy or nervous. Arthel could see it all in his face at that moment.

"And when you do, it feels like the most incredible thing you've ever felt." Freddie quietly added, seeming to be talking about his own experience.

When Freddie's eyes met his gaze, Arthel felt vulnerable, as though Freddie was reading his soul.

What happened next surprised Arthel.

Freddie shuffled closer to him, before leaning in and softly pressing his lips to Arthel's. In shock, Arthel froze to process and think about what was happening. This was what he'd been fantasizing about for a long while, but, now that it was happening, he was mildly terrified. But, after deciding that the good that could come of it outweighed the bad, Arthel returned Freddie's kiss. When Freddie sighed in relief against his mouth, Arthel entwined a hand with Freddie's. After a long while of sweetly kissing, Freddie pulled away, his eyes closed and a soft smile on his face. Giddily, Arthel gazed at him, grinning.

"I've been wanting to do that for a very long time." Freddie admitted, not letting go of Arthel's hand.

"So have I," Arthel murmured, before smirking slightly. "It was very good."

Freddie's eyes opened, the smile still on his face.

"Good?" he teased. "Darling, it was magnificent!"

Arthel laughed in agreement. As Freddie rubbed his fingers along the lines of his palm, Arthel looked away.

"I really want to have this with you, Freddie," he told Freddie. "But... there's something you need to know before we go anywhere. About me."

Arthel felt Freddie's eyes raise to look at the side of his face.

"Okay." he said.

For a moment, Arthel thought about how to word what he wanted to say in a way that Freddie would understand.

"The person that you see is the real me," he started, carefully. "But most other people don't see that. They see someone I don't want to be seen as."

"People will always interpret you differently to how you want them to," Freddie said, gently. "That's part of human nature."

A little dejected, Arthel sighed.

"That's not... really what I'm talking about. That's my fault, I didn't word that right," he said. "Just... just listen."

Until Freddie squeezed his hand, Arthel hadn't realised that his hands were shaking.

"I... I'm legally female," he told Freddie, trying to stop his voice from trembling. "It's what was recorded at my birth, it was how my parents named me, how they dressed me. How people treated me. But... I always knew differently. I knew that I wasn't a girl. Everything... outside of me said I was, but everything on the inside said differently. I hated my name, I hated my clothes, I hated my body and... to be honest, I hated the world. Until I decided to do something about it. I gave myself a new name, I wore what I wanted to and I did my best to make my chest flat. I immersed myself in music, too, that was what had always gotten me through life. That's how I've been living for sixteen years, and I'm so much happier, but the universe is set against me, and always has been. I'll never achieve anything, because anyone who could give me that success would see my legal documents. And everyone else sees what they want to. The best things in my life are the people like you, and the rest of the band, who see me as I am, whether they knew who I was before or not."

There was silence as Freddie leaned closer to gently brush Arthel's damp cheek with his thumb.

"Ell. Look at me, my dear," he whispered, and continued when Arthel did as he asked. "Arthel, you are quite possibly the bravest man I have ever known."

Arthel looked at him in disbelief, with wide, wet eyes, and swallowed thickly. When Freddie opened his arms, Arthel let himself be enveloped in them.

"No-one's ever said that before," he whispered. "Thank you."

Freddie pressed his lips to the side of Arthel's head.

"I've loved you for so long, I don't think I could stop, darling, not even if you gave me a valid reason to."

Laughing quietly, Arthel curled closer to Freddie.

"I love you, too, Fred." he murmured against Freddie's shoulder.

Freddie's arms tightened around him, before pulling away slightly.

"I'm going to check on the weather." he announced.

Nodding, Arthel loosened his arms and let Freddie get up and wander over to the window. Tentatively, Freddie pushed the curtain open slightly.

"It hasn't stopped raining." he informed Arthel, letting the curtain fall back into place.

He turned to look at Arthel, who was still gazing at him from the sofa.

"You could stay here for the night," Freddie suggested. "Or I can call you a taxi. Whichever you prefer, darling."

"You'd... want me to stay?" Arthel asked, slightly surprised.

Kindly, Freddie smiled and sat next to Arthel again.

"My dear, I'd love to have you stay over, if that was what you wanted to do." Freddie told Arthel, gently placing a hand on Arthel's leg.

Arthel met his eyes and shyly smiled. 

"I'd like to stay." he said.

"That's a good choice." Freddie said, grinning teasingly.

Carefully and a little hesitantly, Arthel leaned closer to Freddie. When Freddie didn't move away, Arthel closed his eyes and kissed him. Freddie reciprocated the kiss, happily, and their lips moved together for a while. Freddie broke away, slowly, smiling.

"I love you, Ell." he whispered, looking a little nervous.

A grin spread across Arthel's face and his stomach flipped pleasantly. Freddie felt the same way he did!

"I love you, too, Freddie." he replied, still grinning.

**Author's Note:**

> As an end note; PLEASE don't bind in the way Arthel does! He lives in a different era, so doesn't have any choice because he doesn't have binders available to him! You, however, do! You can buy them from GC2b, Underworks and Shapeshifters to name a few websites, and there are organizations who donate them if you don't have the money available to you (some are listed on the Tumblr Transgender Teen Survival Guide). Just, please be safe!  
> Anyway, with that over with, I hope you enjoyed this! Leave a comment if you did, I thrive on them!  
> Title taken from the song You Take My Breath Away by Queen.


End file.
